This blog will provide information about cemeteries and graveyards in South San Diego County in California. South County is defined, arbitrarily by me, as south of Interstate 8 which is about 20 miles north of the US-Mexico border.
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15 December 2008

The Tanzer Cenotaphs at Greenwood Memorial Park

What is a cenotaph? It is a monument erected in honor of a dead person whose remains lie elsewhere.

There is a collection of cenotaphs at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego that are beautiful and intriguing. They are located in the Hawthorne Place section of the cemetery in the southwestern, historical, section of the cemetery. From the road, the cenotaphs depict angels, dogs and lambs, and face in various directions, and look like this:

The Historical Walking Tour handout that I obtained from Greenwood says this about this collection:

"Frederick Tanzer (1861-1938) and his wife purchased sixteen graves here to be used for 'memorials' to their many relatives buried in Germany and elsewhere. After his wife was buried, Mr. Tanzer placed fifteen pieces of Carrara marble statuary on the site that he and his wife had planned as a memorial to their parents and many relatives. The statuary is a 'Sermon of Love' by Mr. Tanzer for his wife. Mr. Tanzer devoted his life and fortune to this memorial in statuary, and he died a pauper."

It doesn't indicate whether the Tanzer's had any children. I checked the 1900 US census and it said that Fred and Mary Tanzer had zero children. What a pity that these statues don't "belong" to someone in the San Diego area.

This is one of the few times I think the adage "I'm going to spend everything I have - I can't take it with me" applies!

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About Me

I am a native San Diegan, a graduate of San Diego State University, a retired aerospace engineer, a genealogist and a family guy.
My wife (Angel Linda) and I have two lovely daughters, and four darling grandchildren. We love to visit them and have them visit us.
Angel Linda and I love to travel to visit friends and relatives, to sightsee, to cruise or to do genealogy. Our travels have taken us all over the USA, to England, Down Under and Scandinavia.
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Contact me via email at randy.seaver@gmail.com